Desert Kai
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: A sequel to 'Back to Kai'.


**A/N: people really, really seemed to love my Kai story the last time (other than the typo with the first person to third person and back again). So… Imma gunna try my hand at another one. This is a continuation of 'Back to Kai'**

**Disclaimer: own nothing at all, dudes.**

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Her hair was like long ebony. Long, long strands of shining ebony.

Amber eyes seized him and she gave him a soft smile, the bag over her shoulder hanging there by only a thin leather strap that she had made herself. "Ben, I was coming to see you," she muttered, glad he had found her in the middle of the desert. The middle of the freaking desert. Who would've guessed that the famous Ben Tennyson would come looking for the girl who had only loved him for a wolf five years ago.

"Why?" he asked, pulling away from her hugging arms.

Kai had to look down. She rubbed her forearm nervously. "I… I… can't really explain it, but I just had this feeling that I needed to see you." Her gaze strayed upwards to meet his again. "It's hard to… I can't really make you understand, but I just… I don't know, Ben."

Her stuttering wasn't normal and she seemed really nervous to be seeing him again. Ben stroked her cheek with his thumb, touching her soft, dark, sun-kissed skin. "Well my reason for coming to find you is probably even stranger."

Able to muster a shy smile, Kai asked, "Are you going to tell me?" She fixed the leather backpack over her shoulder.

"Only if you promise not to tell anyone else." His forest green eyes were suddenly gravely serious. The last sparkles of amusement, joy, and utter bliss vanished faster than the moon behind a cloud.

"You don't have to tell me," she said, reaching back to fix her hair. The braid was frizzy and a total mess, the strands of black flying everywhere. She must've looked like she was some kind of maniac because she felt so disgusting. Traveling alone had been the worst idea she'd had in a very long time. Especially traveling alone through the desert.

His head cocked to one side. "You don't have to tell me either." He leaned in and on her lips placed the softest kiss that he had ever imagined. It was short and sweet, but when he pulled away, he was awakened by her shocked face and the most amazing smile from the girl in front of him. Ben's brow furrowed. "What?" he asked, incredulous at the grin that was glowing from her as the blush only made her already dark skin turn darker and a bit more red.

"You're a good kisser," she said, embarrassed the second the words were out of her mouth. Kai bit her lip, but gave up on trying to sound the way she was normally around Ben. She leaned forward and locked her hands behind his pale neck and kissed him right back, knowing he very much wanted it and definitely deserved it for flying out in the middle of the night to find her. In the middle of the desert.

Again, it was slow and soft, no longer than a few seconds, but Ben enjoyed it. He enjoyed it a whole lot. Her lips were soft and partially cracked from the hot sun beating down upon her for days on end. The way the heat radiated from the blush of her face drew him in closer. His arms curled around her waist, pulling her tightly to him so that they were intertwined like one person.

She loved the way his skin was so soft instead of rough like all the other Navajo natives. It was perfectly beautiful, the way it glowed in the soft shining light of the icy cold moon that wavered in the sky. Kai ran her fingertips along his skin, the color of ivory compared to her flesh that was colored the same shade as milky chocolate.

When she pulled away this time, she found herself beaming at him and even in the darkness she could see the blush rising into his cheeks as well. "Ben?"

His voice was constricted, cut short. But he managed to respond to her just barely. "Yeah?"

"You… you should probably go back to Bellwood." She smiled weakly, really not wanting him to leave, but knowing, deep down in the abyss of her heart, that this was what needed to happen. Kai stroked her fingers over the stray bumps on her braid. "I can… I'll go… wherever."

His expression suddenly changed to chained down and clearly pained. "No. If you aren't going back home, then I'm taking you back with me. Bellwood isn't exactly desert and there aren't supersonic werewolves, but it's a place to stay." Ben gave her a kind smile, a welcoming one that she hadn't seen in a very, very long time. "You remember Gwen, right? You could stay with her or something." The brunette's thoughts were just to get her out of the vacant and vast sandy lands. Away from this terrible oblivion.

"No." Her voice was soft, but firm, strict in the idea of not changing her mind. No matter how much she really wanted to go with Ben.

"Kai, it's not safe here."

She looked away from him, off to the side where she could see a mesa outlined by the glowing light of the moon. The lines were detailed with shadows of darkness and there was the movement of wolves or coyotes upon the top. A short howl struck the night's usual silence.

The desert was a place of peace. Peace of mind. Peace of body. Peace of will. Peace of strength. Peace of the world. Peace of self.

"Ben, I'm not a useless girl anymore," muttered Kai, her fingers tracing the knife that hung in a tanned leather sheathe at her hip. She also let the hand in her braid fall across the bow that was slung across one shoulder, the quiver of arrows' feathers tickling her neck like an old friend. "I don't want to be out here to be away. I want to be out here to prove myself. To everyone." She let her clear, pristine amber eyes meet his again. "Including you, Ben." The Navajo girl let her hand close around his. "I'm sorry, but I just _have_ to do this."

One corner of his lips curled up in a soft smile. "You do." He said it like he knew what she was talking about. And in a sense, he did.

She couldn't help the wave of relief that seemed to wash over her, making her feel calm and warm inside, finally at rest and with balance in the universe. Kai let out a long sigh. "Thank you, Ben. Thank you."

Quietly, Ben gave her one last kiss, this time on her cheek instead of on her lips. "Call me when you can, okay?"

The softest nod was all he received.

Jetray zoomed off into the night, looking down upon her for the last time he would see her for a long time.

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**A/N: a bit of a sequel to the first one… I'm really not sure where it was going tho. This one was more Kai's view. Kinda. Please review! Thanks everyone for reading!**

**~Sky**


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